The Elbe River Cruise, in June of 2025, marked DaK’s sixth Viking Cruise. Although it was still very enjoyable it was our least favorite Viking experience. The reason came down to how many times we had to pack and unpack during our 10 day Viking trip. We had 2 nights in a Berlin hotel, then 3 days on the Viking Astrid, then 3 days on the Viking Beyla (due to bridge construction blocking the Elbe causing us to “ship swap” to the Viking Beyla for 3 days), then 2 days in a Prague hotel. It is so nice when you can just walk off a ship and see many different places while all of your belongings stay in one place (on the ship).
There are only two small Viking ships on the Elbe (1 each direction) which only hold 98 passengers each, due to extreme water levels (at times 3 feet or less in some spots). In fact we were very lucky to have some heavy rain the week before our cruise that raised the river level enough to avoid being bussed along the route. Our itinerary consistested of 2 days in Berlin (including a day trip to Potsdam), Wittenberg, Meissen, Dresden, Saxon Switzerland (Germany)/Bad Schandau, Decin (Czechia), and 2 days in Prague. There really weren’t any bad stops as they all had something to offer.
We were extra fortunate this trip to be accompanied by our very good friends Ross and Sam. Ross added an unmatched education and history to the Berlin tours and sights, having been stationed there in the U.S. Army during the 1980’s.
Potsdam, was a short bus ride from our Grand Hyatt Hotel in Berlin. Viking is extremely good at logistics and timeliness. They definitely get you to the best places in comfort!
By now we have come to expect the comforts of Viking. They consistently have spotlessly clean ships, good healthy food selections and beer we can drink.
Viking treated us with a quick, impromptu stop in Torgau, Germany. The captain decided we had time and the Viking Cruise Director (Lutz) provided an enjoyable, narrated tour of the old town.
After a brief morning rain shower the sky cleared for a pleasant day in Meissen, Germany. The rain provided an excuse for me to seek shelter in a local bakery and wait out the rain while enjoying a superb piece of Quark Kuchen (German cheese cake). Hard to imagine a better way to wait out a rain delay!
Despite Meissen being a quaint, old town its claim to fame is the oldest porcelain factory in Europe. Viking provided a tour and demonstration of how the porcelain pieces are made. Quite interesting.
We enjoyed Dresden, Germany quite a bit. It had plenty of historical buildings and interesting places to see. This is where we had to switch ships from the Astrid to the Beyla which was docked in Loschwitz, for two nights, on the other side of the collapsed bridge. We enjoyed taking in the culture in this Dresden suburb during evening walks after dinner. One day, instead of taking a Viking bus back to the ship, we walked the 2 miles from Dresden to Loschwitz to really take in the sights along the part of the Elbe that ships could not pass.
This day of mostly cruising the Elbe was relaxing and more scenic than I anticipated. The stop and tour of Saxon Switzerland National Park was quite spectacularl! Bye the way, it was named by Swiss immigrants who said this place reminded them of home.
We’ve been to Prague before (on a previous Viking River Cruise in 2015). We were glad that it was still a beautifully preserved city with most buildings from the 16th (and earlier) century. But Prague was so crowded during our Viking tour on a Thursday afternoon that it was a little hard to enjoy. However, afterwards we found possibly the best beer pub ever! The Gulden Draak Pub featured every beer the Van Steenberg Brewery brews (most on draft) but also had bottles of nearly every great beer in the world. We found ourselves enjoying it both of our evenings in Prague.
Our second day in Prague we decided to rent e-bikes. We knew the city wasn’t very bike friendly so we took the bike shops suggested rural route with a centuries old brewery as the turn around/destination. Sounds fun, right? We got more than we bargained for. First, we had to get out of the city (traffic) alive. Once we did that there was a long 45+ degree, gravel hill to get down, a half mile+ farmers field to ride thru, train tracks, a very little “ferry” (that you had to call and wait to have take you across the river), and then finally a beautifully paved bike path on the other side of the river to return home. However, as luck would have it the beautiful path (that is in a ravine down along the river) was closed due to falling rocks! The only way back was to go back across the river (on the little ferry) and ride on a dangerous road with traffic. If it wasn’t for a very kind local biker, who showed us the way, we’d still be there:).
Overall, out of all the Viking Cruises we have now done, this one was just fine. However, I would not suggest this particular itinerary if you don’t like to pack-up and pick-up and change rooms often. The sites were beautiful, the tour guides amazing, food delicious and crew so helpful. Only downfall, changing of the boat and the packing-up often.
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